The home buying experience can vary in length for everyone, but the ending should be smooth no matter how long (or short) it takes you to get to the finish line. Like with any process, there are some steps you can take to make the end much more seamless.
One of the first things you can do is to conduct a home inspection. These are typically performed after the seller accepts your offer to purchase their residence. At the time of inspection, a home inspector will perform a thorough walk through of the house and identify any potential problems. The home inspector then provides you with a report that details their findings.
If you, as the buyer, are borrowing from a lender to purchase the home, you will meet with your mortgage company and move on to the next steps to obtaining your mortgage. The mortgage company will arrange for a professional appraisal. The lender does this to ensure the loan amount aligns with the market value of the home just in case they need to repossess the house. If the seller’s home is worth less than the sales price, lenders are unlikely to approve the loan for the buyer. In cases like these, the seller will either ask the buyer to pay the difference, lower the sales price, or possibly even challenge the appraisal.
To keep things moving smoothly, it is also important to be flexible. It would be great to be able to close on a home by a specific date of your own choosing, but sadly the home buying process can be unpredictable with timelines. Delays can happen without notice and you need to be able to adjust your personal timeline accordingly. Always have a PLAN B ready to go in effect, especially if you are currently leasing, always include a few buffer days just in case timelines get bumped. The last thing your real estate agent is trying to do is make you temporarily homeless.
The best way to make things move smoothly is to collaborate with an attentive real estate agent. Navigating the home buying journey is a process, and can require a great deal of work to get a house you love for a good price. By choosing to work with an agent, you can take a great deal of that weight off of your own shoulders. A real estate agent will do everything they can to make your home ownership dream come true and can help with the process they are trained to be experts of!.
Ready to get started on the home buying process? Contact me!
